Of Dalish Elves and Midnight Strolls
by AerisSerris
Summary: Valentine Mahariel despises humans, but perhaps a late night stroll with Leliana can help change his mind. M!Mahariel/Leliana


I got tired of playing as a M!Brosca for Leliana. I'm sorry, but I've just yet to find a way to make Nigel Brosca look the way I've pictured him. Plus, I prefer playing elves anyway. So this is my first Valentine Mahariel/Leliana fic. By the way, the 'tine in Valentine is pronounced the same as teen, and not like in St. Valentine's Day.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing Dragon Age related. **

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Valentine Mahariel scanned the forest around him, the sun setting low over the trees as he blew a strand of russet brown hair out of his face. His eyes were the same shade of the pine trees, dark green, and his hair the color of the pine needles. His general appearance was one of the ways he was described as the forest, besides his own personality adding to that desciption.

He had never liked humans. Never. Ever since he was a child, he had hated them. Stories of what humans could do had been, in one way, the kindling that had started this hatred. Stories of hearing their passion for elven blood, as well as that of dwarves and even th e qunari. And then, of course, came that remarkable incindent when he was ten.

Valentine's half-sister, Valencia, had been pretty much the only person to truly understand his anger and resentment when nobody felt the need to share the knowledge of his parents' murder. And even then, she wouldn't tell him by request of Ashalle, the woman who had raised Valentine like her own since his mother had abandoned him.

He had been on a hunting assessment with his good friend Tamlen when he found two humans in the woods, both with bruises and cuts, but otherwise laughing at their good fortune.

"Squealed like a pig, that little girl did." Said the taller human, with hair the color of tawny. His companion, or rather, his lackey, laughed in that obnoxious, humanish way.

"Ha! A pig, that's a good one!" His said, a guffaw in his laughs.

Tamlen raised a brow curiously. "What little girl?" Valentine's blonde friend asked, making the ten-year-old elf shrug.

"I dunno. We found that hare, so we outta get back to camp."

Looking back out it, how Valentine wished he could travel back in time, whip out his hunting knives, and slice those humans apart.

Because that night, when Valentine and Tamlen returned, the clan whispered worriedly. Some exchanged glances, and as he looked… the scouts were missing. And for that matter, so was Valencia.

Marethari, the Keeper of ten years, came running to them. "Valentine! Tamlen! Thank the gods you are back!" She said, brushing her graying black hair out of her face.

Valentine tilted his head to the side. "We weren't gone that long… what's the matter? Why is everyone so upset…?"

The weeks after had been hard to cope with. Because he learned, the next morning, what those two humans had been so happy about, and why Valencia was gone. They had raped her, beat her, mortally wounded her, and left her for dead. By the time the scouts found her, she was dead.

This was also when Valentine learned where babies came from, but that was a story for another time.

The stories of human cruelty had been the kindling, the murder and rape of Valencia the flint, and the resulting fires were the hatred that consumed Valentine, heart and soul, ever since.

Valentine's bow grew heavier on his shoulders, as well as his eyelids. His feet grew slower with every step. Gods, but he was sleepy. He wasn't even sure why he was awake in the first place. Maybe it was just the fact that the forest always made him feel better. Possibly the way he wanted to get away from those annoying humans. (Especially that horrendous Alistair! Words alone couldn't describe how tempted Valentine was to grab his knife and wipe his head clean off his shoulders!) Or maybe it was the taint taking effect on him. Either way, the Dalish elf knew he had to head back soon.

_But… _Valentine sighed, thinking remorsefully at the idea of whether or not to stay in this forest just a while longer. By trudging back to that camp, he returned to the utter pile of shit his life had become. By staying in the woods, despite his tired self, he got to escape, if only a little longer.

He never wanted to be a Grey Warden. He never wanted to leave his clan. And he never wanted to hear hide nor hair of that awful cave that ruined his life ever, ever, ever, EVER again. In fact, all Valentine wanted was to be home with his clan, and have Tamlen and Ashalle and Valencia at his side again. But, such dreams were for the weak, and Valentine Mahariel was no weakling.

This left him back at square one. To stay, or not to stay…?

"Valentine, are you here?" The elf heard her voice before her footsteps, something that was hair to do with the russet haired elf. A human head popped out of the bushes, with fiery red hair and bright blue eyes that reminded Valentine of a cool creek on a hot summer day.

"Yes, Leliana." Valentine sighed, feeling as though his inner conflict had been decided for him, by this annoying, talkative human no less…!

The relief was obvious on Leliana's face; did she not see him at first? Perhaps it was her humanly sight, which was so inferior to that of a Dalish elf's, or even an elf in general. He had been breathing pretty heavily from tripping and cutting his leg, so her humanly hearing couldn't have heard him either.

She was, just in general, inferior to Valentine.

Leliana's eyes relaxed in relief. "Oh, thank the Maker! I've been looking for what feels like an hour!" The bard said, oblivious (or perhaps uncaring) to the irritable twitch that Valentine's eye gave when she uttered the word 'Maker'. The Maker – bah! He wasn't anything but an excuse to push others that weren't Andrastian humans around. Valentine hated the Maker about as much as he did humans.

"Hmph. I find it difficult to believe that anyone would bother looking for me." Valentine scoffed, mockery of the idea in his voice. Leliana looked hurt at the comment.

Just barely did Valentine regret his words, but barely. The formings of the feeling of regret lasted about as long as Leliana's hurt expression did. About a millisecond.

"Silly, that's not true! We all care! I know you're the only person Morrigan likes to talk to, Tammish wouldn't cope without his master, Wynne thinks quite fondly of you, Zevran would miss his fellow elf, Sten would miss his leader, I would – !" A sudden blush came across Leliana's cheek at the comment, causing the elf to raise a brow.

"What were you saying, Leliana?" Valentine said, just the barest trace of a smirk across the handsome elf's features. Leliana shook her head.

"It was nothing, Valentine." She said, her cheeks pink. Valentine's ear twitched.

"Whatever you say, Leliana." He replied, a trace of teasing in his voice.

The two trecked back to camp in silence, the redheaded bard observing their leader as they walked. Valentine was handsome, there was no doubt about it, but it was that something in his character that drew Leliana to him. His quiet manner, as well as his fiery temper, two things that shouldn't go together, somehow did to form the elven Warden in front of her. Valentine was sarcastic, and could be pretty rude when he was in a bad mood, but the bard had also seen his good side.

Unbeknowest to Leliana, Valentine was thinking about the bard as well. She was pretty, beatiful even, but nothing could make the elf admit that to anyone except himself. She was annoying, talkative, and to the point of just plain obnoxious, but there was also her good side. She believed so strongly in her Maker and that everyone had a purpose Valentine wondered how she could believe that way, when in view of the horrible things that constantly happened in the world.

Leliana's previous comment, or rather, her near slip-up, lingered on his mind. "What were you going to say earlier about missing me?" Valentine asked, this time no sarcasm or malice in his voice. Leliana looked surprised by the question, as well as embarrassed.

"Well… I would miss having you around if you disappeared is all." She said quickly.

"I find that difficult to believe. I find that you humans thought of us elves as toys, something to play with and use till spent, then abandoning them." Valentine retorted, a snort before his miniature rant.

"Some humans do," Leliana stated, not bothering to lie, "but there are others, like myself, who know that elves are not toys, and are as much people as humans, and dwarves, and qunari."

Valentine looked surprised. "You honestly believe that, Leliana?"

"I know that, Valentine."

The two trecked on in silence, leaving the elf in his thoughts of questioning everything he had ever been taught. It could bring a smile to Valentine's face to know that there were at least people like Leliana, who knew that elves were as much people as humans. If only each human could be like Leliana; but until then, he could appreciate the one he already had.

Maybe humans weren't that bad after all.

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**~AerisSerris**


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